Wootton boys rally to earn county title

Track and field: Patriots were in fourth with three events to go; Northwest wins girls' crown

by Prince J. GrimesStaff Writer

Tom Fedor/The Gazette

Gaithersburg High School's Soloman Vault (left) edges out Thomas S. Wootton's Jaron Woodyard to win 100 meters during Wednesday's Montgomery County Public Schools track and field championship at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.

Clarksburg High School’s Alexus Pyles (left) and Bethesda-Chevy Chase’s Laila Ismail clear the final hurdle in the 100 meter hurdles during Wednesday’s Montgomery County Public Schools track and field championship at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.

Tom Fedor/The Gazette

Richard Montgomery High School’s Emmanuel Porquin competes in the 3,200-meter relay during Wednesday’s Montgomery County Public Schools track and field championship at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.

Tom Fedor/The Gazette

Paint Branch High School’s Devonte Johnson throws the shot put during Wednesday’s Montgomery County Public Schools track and field championship at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.

Tom Fedor/The Gazette

Gaithersburg High School's Soloman Vault (left) edges out Thomas S. Wootton's Jaron Woodyard to win 100 meters during Wednesday's Montgomery County Public Schools track and field championship at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda.

Wednesday's Montgomery County outdoor track and field championships produced one surprise, with Thomas S. Wootton High School slipping past the reigning indoor and outdoor state champions, Northwest, by two points to claim the boys' title.

The Northwest girls' continued their dominating season by winning their straight county championship.

The Wootton boys won after being down by 10 points and in fourth place following 14 of 17 events having been scored.

A gold medal run by Urgy Eado in the 800 meters put Wootton in a first-place tie with Northwest until their 400- and 1,600-meters relay teams sealed the win with second and fourth place finishes, respectively.

The County win was a culmination of everything finally coming together at the right time, Eado said.

“We've been good for the past few years, but our sprinters were kind of shaky.” Eado said. “Our sprinters stepped it up and we have a solid distance team so it kind of came together and we won our division — and finally we won at county.”

Eado finished third in the 1,600 meters race also, but this was a team win for Wootton, which had top five finishes in 11 different events said sprinter Kwame Frimpong.

“It was more of team thing,” Frimpong said. “'Cause we did really well in the [400-meters relay] and [800-meters relay] — placed first and second. Individually, we did well. [Jaron Woodyard] placed secoond [in the 100 meters], I placed fourth.”

David Yazdani who runs on the 1,600-meters relay team along with Frimpong agrees and said the entire team is closer than they have ever been because they actually hang out with one another now and do things like go out to eat. Yazdani says it feels great to bring the county championship to Wootton.